10
Track listing at end of review
tenthing (brass ensemble)
All arrangements are by Jarle Storløkken, except for Koetsier
rec. July and August 2010, Den Norske Opera and Ballet, Oslo
EMI CLASSICS 0 88326 2 [68:46]

‘tenThing’ is the name of the brass ensemble and
‘10’ is the album title. Rising trumpet star Tine
Thing Helseth is the primarius of the group, hence the wordplay
and general ‘ten thing’ going down. I suppose it
pays to make something, even ten things, of a name like that,
but you can’t help feeling that EMI’s marketers
are going to have to get cracking on the limited supply of options
to get very far with it. It’s all getting confusing.

She, they, and the ensemble have constructed a programme of
arrangements, in the main, that will appeal to lovers of the
lighter side of the brass ensemble tradition. All arrangements
are by Jarle Storløkken, with the exception of the only
original works which are the two by Jan Koetsier. Bizet’s
Carmen suite was originally arranged for ten-piece brass
ensemble by Roger Harvey, so I assume (from the ‘originally’)
that Storløkken has added his imprint to the arrangement.
The six minute potpourri is a dashing and enjoyable one with
plenty of dynamism and energy, and technical suavity, on display.
Albéniz’s Asturias from his Suite Española,
however, cannot help sounding rather beefy in this brassy context,
losing something of its suggestive charm in the process, albeit
there’s some fine colour distribution amongst the instrumentation.
Piazzolla’s music survives ingeniously, Invierno Porteño
having a neo-baroque festive feel whilst Verano Porteño
is suffused with the spirit of Miles Davis’s horn in the
B section and ends with a witty Vivaldian flourish.

The players dig into Weill’s Threepenny Opera suite
with guts and gusto, the bluesy tints more overt than in shellac
performances contemporary with the premiere. The three Grieg
pieces form a programme-within-a-programme and nicely balanced
between lullaby and dwarf marches; the March of the Dwarfs
is from the Lyric Pieces for piano and here sports a
luscious B section. Jan Koetsier’s Brass Symphony
is an original, and this adds ballast to the programme. It’s
a tight, breezy and engaging, with a blues-flecked Larghetto
and a festive, celebratory finale.

This is a high spirited and engaging album. Less of the ten
thing, though, next time.

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